Lobster fishing getting pinched, trappers say

Even though he's been fishing for 20 years, Escondido resident
Bob Phillips had little idea one recent morning what he'd find in
his 180 lobster traps lining the rocky and muddy sea floor along
North County's coast.

"Commercial fishing is just like playing the stock market,"
Phillips said, rubbing his hands together in the cold pre-dawn air
at Oceanside Harbor. "One day you're rich and famous and the next
day you're broke."

Risks are a large part of the lobster industry. A big storm can
wipe out $50,000 in gear overnight, poachers raid traps, and a soft
economy can make people less hungry for costly crustacean
dinners.

But local lobster fishermen see new threats that they say could
kill their livelihood. The most worrisome is a state proposal to
create large marine refuges that would ban all fishing in three
large areas off the San Diego County coast.

"If they pull it off, they're going to put us all out of
business," Phillips said.

A healthy fishery

Trappers and regulators agree that the state's lobster
population is healthy and sustainable after more than 100 years of
commercial fishing.

But they disagree on whether lobster fishing should be banned in
the proposed new marine reserves.

Passed in 1999, the Marine Life Protection Act requires the
California Department of Fish and Game to replace a confusing
patchwork of marine reserves overseen by different agencies with
one cohesive plan to manage waters off the state's 1,100-mile
coast.

The state is due to adopt a final plan by December 2003. The
current proposal would close three popular fishing spots off the
coast of La Jolla, Point Loma and Camp Pendleton.

Supporters say the law is needed to protect a delicate balance
in the marine environment.

Local lobster trappers disagree, saying the law is an effort to
create large underwater laboratories at the expense of their
fishing industry.

Lobster-trapping regulations are working, they say, and
shouldn't be tampered with. The lobster season runs from October to
March, which protects the creature's breeding season. Small lobster
get thrown back to sea, which maintains the fishery population.

"We're the best stewards of the resource because we want to
maintain it year after year," said fisherman John Guth. "The
fishery is pretty healthy, I think. The lobster keep coming back.
The size limit works and the season works."

Guth is a Vista resident and president of the California Lobster
and Trap Fishermen's Association, which represents 75 trappers.

But John Ugoretz, a senior marine biologist with the Fish and
Game Department who is coordinating its marine life protection
plan, said creating the reserves is important even though the
lobster fishery is healthy.

A shortage of the large male lobsters that fishermen prize could
send a ripple effect through the ocean-bottom food chain, he said.
Big lobsters eat sea urchins, which eat kelp, an essential haven
for marine life. Big lobsters help keep the sea urchins in check,
protecting the kelp forests, Ugoretz said.

"Those larger male lobsters play a role in the overall
ecosystem," Ugoretz said.